Apparently at the NFL's collective bargaining discussion between owners and the NFL Player's Association, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson belittled Peyton Manning and Drew Brees (among others) in reaction to the players' questioning the owners' need for greater revenue, and the players' demands for a more proactive policy on protecting from head trauma. It should come as little surprise that Richardson wants to stall the labor negotiations and limit the possibility of a season where he will likely lose revenue funding the payroll for a team with little hope of any immediate success.
His team is coming off an NFL worst 2-14 record, they just fired long-time head coach John Fox and replaced him with a D-coordinator from a team that didn't make the playoffs last season, and their first overall pick will likely be a defensive lineman, who--at best--could replace Julius Peppers whom the Panthers' lost in free agency last year. Unless Jimmy Clausen substantially improves the Panthers could devolve to the Detroit Lion-Pittsburgh Pirate-Cleveland Cavalier lineage.
Of course, Richardson may be more amenable to a new collective bargaining agreement if the NFL would be willing to make some minor rule changes. For example, the NFL could: (1) devalue the touchdown to 2 points and award 8 points for every punt; (2) allow mid-game player swaps between teams; (3) grant NFC South teams more regular season opportunities to play against college football teams from the Mid-American Conference (East not West Division); (4) reverse the rule about change of possession on interceptions; and/ or, (5) have game outcomes decided by lottery.
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